Skincare is the latest by director Austin Peters, who’s using this poignant psychological thriller as his transition from non-fiction into the narrative space, albeit with a film “based on true events”. The film was inspired by real life celebrity facialist Dawn DaLuise, here Hope Goldman (Elizabeth Banks), who was accused of a murder-for-hire plot against a rival aesthetician, but that is just one piece of this rather dense exploration of one woman’s unraveling at the seams. Embedded in this true crime drama is Banks using Hope to explore the realities on screen of what it’s like to be a single, empowered, independent woman in the cut throat world of beauty (Dramatic Lifetime pause….) where appearances are literally everything.
The film starts shortly before Hope Goldman’s personal beauty product line launch, which has her with literally everything on the line. While she’s the aesthetician to the stars, Banks is clear to ground Hope as someone who’s playing the Hollywood long game and has been working tirelessly toward her dream while teetering on the cusp of bankruptcy. The night before her big interview with the local news airs soft launching her line, a salaciously unhinged email goes out costing her most of her client base overnight. This sets into motion a series of events that exploit not only her gender, but her status as a beautiful, successful woman entrepreneur to sabotage her brand. Attempting to discover the culprit behind the attacks, she locks in on her neighbor, an up and coming aesthetician, who is a younger hipper version of herself.
While the psychological unraveling aspect of this film is completely effective on its own. It’s the performance and nuance that Elizabeth Banks brings to her character that really makes this film interesting. Her sort of exploration into what it’s like to be an aging woman in LA, still trying to have it all while fighting against the clock, adds to the uneasiness of the piece as every man she comes across has their own ulterior motives for their aid in her cause. It’s navigating the minefield of not only the sabotage arc, but also the men attempting to exploit her in this state, that makes the film just that much more anxiety inducing.
As a character study, Skincare is a fascinating glimpse of one woman pushed to the edge and how she somehow finds her way back, this all while contending with the shelf life society places on women. Banks is a tour de force here as she flip flops from girl boss people pleaser, to completely unhinged in this character that aside from the more dramatic flourishes has a very authentic center. It’s that dynamic and range that takes what could have been a lifetime movie of the week and delivers something much more impressive and engaging than I expected from the trailer.
